In a major rethink, the Chancellor abandoned his much-anticipated plans to slash funding when delivering Wednesday’s Autumn Statement .

Commissioner Jane Kennedy described the move as a “complete surprise” but “a very welcome early Christmas present”.

And Mrs Kennedy believes the ISIS-led killings in France was a major factor in the Tory rethink to safeguard police forces’ finances.

She told the Visiter's sister paper the ECHO: “How could it not?

“If you’re Home Secretary or Prime Minister, seeing what happened across the Channel, knowing that counter-terrorism forces and Special Services had foiled seven active terror attempts in the UK, it must have given them cause to think.

“The government listened and it took courage from them to perform this U-turn.”

The actual figures of how much Whitehall money is heading to Merseyside Police will be known on December 17.

But a letter from Home Secretary Theresa May to Mrs Kennedy, and her fellow Commissioners, has confirmed their force budgets will remain static for the next four years.

“I hope there will not be a sting in the tail,” Mrs Kennedy said.

It means the basic command unit structure, in place across Liverpool , Wirral , Knowsley , Sefton and St Helens , which was set to be ripped up, can remain.

And the 21 posts in Merseyside Police’s mounted section, along with its 364 community support officers - areas both mooted as being at risk - are now safe.

Up to 1,400 jobs within the force, previously projected as being in line to be slashed if the budgets were decimated by 25 per cent, have also been safeguarded.

Mrs Kennedy has spoken to Chief Constable Sir Jon Murphy about the government role reversal, who was described as “delighted and relieved” by the development.

The Commissioner recently penned an open letter to the people of Merseyside after Conservative bosses had demanded the force make £48m cuts by the end of the 2018/2019.

That was on top of the £77m already cut since 2010.

Mrs Kennedy said: “Even Boris Johnson’s policing deputy was threatening to sue the government over their proposed cuts, so a very strange alliance was being formed.

“It brought about a climate of fear and anxiety, which clearly affected them.

“Put that alongside what happened in Paris and we had a much better case against the cuts.”

Caveats could still remain within the sudden protection for police budgets, Mrs Kennedy said, and the government was still urging Crime Commissioners to “improve efficiency, which is fair,” she added.

Merseyside Police’s mounted section may need to work closer with colleagues from neighbouring forces like Lancashire and Greater Manchester, the Commissioner also warned.

Mrs Kennedy had launched a petition against the cuts which attracted 13,000 online signatures.

In Parliament, Mr Osborne said: “Now is not the time for further police cuts; now is the time to back our police and give them the tools do the job.”

Policing was among the unprotected areas bracing itself for major spending cuts.

The Chancellor also abandoned the controversial cuts of £4.4bn to tax credits.